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"Hit me with another round!" Jay declared as they slammed down her glass on the bar again.
Fuck.
How is he gonna tell Nya.
He goes missing for a month and then he returns a completely different person.
She grew out their hair for fucks sake, grew out his hair and got a new wardrobe and did so much of everything to change who they were.
The only one thing that's consistent is the fact that he still has a necklace Cole made for her. Otherwise, nothing is the same.
That and the lichtenberg scars fanning across his back and up their neck and down her arms like tentacles. Consuming. Constricting. Impossible to hide even under layers of rich ink.
Proof of what they can't hide.
What they can't erase.
What will always haunt them.
Fucking hell, how drunk is she?
He lost count too long ago.
Another jug of ale goes down far too fast.
Jay wakes up in a hotel room with people he doesn't recognize next to their body. Before any of them can wake up she's already slinking away.
Whatever.
That was their last night on the house.
Her journey of 'finding the self' or whatever excuse he spouted a while back is over. They need to get back to their team.
He wonders if they missed the memory of her.
Or if they'll still like her even though he's so, so different now.
Okay.
Okay he's gonna fucking do this.
This is their last day to dick around before heading home.
Nya has Kai combing through her hair a lot these days. Sure, she got the wavy hair gene instead of the semi-curly gene, but it still knots when it's long.
Like, really long. More so on one side than the other.
Will Jay recognize him?
Now that he's grown out her hair and just ditched a lot of how she looked for something new.
No anchors.
No weights.
He could just go off and do whatever she wanted to herself.
Kai hits a knot and Nya hisses, "Brush your own hair if you don't want me to yank out the knots."
Nya swats him away and grabs the brush herself, "Whatever. Do you think Jay'll be back soon?"
"He said a month," Kai answered with as he watched his sibling brush her hair. Thoroughly. Tugging his arm down the thick mess of black hair that could use a proper undercut to thin it out enough that it's manageable.
"Has it been a month?" He asked.
"Five weeks and two days," Kai said.
Nya gives a long groan, "I miss my boyfriend."
"What if he isn't your boyfriend anymore?" Kai asked.
"Did he contact you?!" Nya snapped.
"No! He didn't contact any of us," Kai assured, "But I'm just saying, it could be why he's taking so long."
"It'd make it easier for me to swallow the maybe a lesbian pill-"
"You're lesbian?!"
"Maybe- it doesn't matter though! I loved Jay and that's what matters," Nya sighed as he spoke, "It's all so complicated."
Kai goes a bit rigid.
"I'm gonna go get some water." Nya places down her hairbrush.
"Hey," Kai begins and Nya turns to face him, "You'll work it out."
"Thanks."
Jay knocks once on the door.
She waits.
And she waits.
Time passes, seconds turn into minutes, and it feels like those minutes are turning into hours already.
He should go.
But as he's pivoting to leave the door swings open and he sees... Cole? With his hair grown out?
'Jay!"
Nope, that's Nya. Voice far to high to be Cole's despite the fact that she's built like he is now. Or maybe it's been so long she doesn't even recall how their girlfriend looks.
In his defense Nya is definitely leaning much heavier on being the butcher of the two.
Like.
Holy fuck, Nya.
When did she get so hot?
"Yep! It's me," Jay begins awkwardly, is his voice too high? Can she tell that they're different? Is the fact she's been taking estrogen visible?
Before he can get anything else out Nya has her ensnared in a near rib shattering hug. It's tight. And comforting at that, familiar but different.
"I missed you so much!" She twirls him around before dropping him down again, "Your hair looks great longer."
He gives a bit of a hum, at least she still likes his hair, "You too! Nya with almost half her head shaved, did not expect that."
"It's not super shaved, just, considerably shorter." She runs a hand through her hair as she speaks, it's kinda scruffy on the short side. Nya pauses for a moment to look Jay up and down, "How was your trip?"
"It was pretty good, wasn't sure if you'd even recognize me to be honest." Jay laughs it off but very real fear rests on his voice. Something else is underneath it. But she pitches it high to try and distract from the fact she was afraid Nya wouldn't want them anymore.
"No, for real? C'mon, Jay, you're my boyfriend." There's a second of pause, is he? He still looks the part through her eyes even though he's definitely playing into his androgynous charms way more than
before. She continues, "There's no way I wouldn't recognize you, I thought you wouldn't recognize me."
"Well, I almost thought you were Cole-"
"You thought I was Cole?" Shock is clear more than anything else, "Oh, that's gonna make him so happy."
There's a single beat.
Her voice just got low.
Like.
Really low.
Almost lower than Jay's was before he voice trained for the bit. The bit then became part of who he was, but that's beside the point.
"That was really hot," Jay croaked out, his pitch as femme as they could manage. More on reflex then anything else but still femme.
"Thanks," Nya said, a bashful look to her face.
Before many more words can be spoken Jay and Nya both hear shouting. Not pained, but discernible words.
They listen in.
"Do you know where Nya went?" That's Cole.
"I think he went out front!" Kai shouts back.
Jay snaps to stare at Nya, "He?"
"Her," Nya tacks on.
Something about it stuns Jay into place, she really hopes Nya doesn't take it negatively
"He, or her," She further clarifies, "I'm still your girlfriend."
Jay falters.
"Right?" Nya asked.
Jay took a deep breath and tightened their grip on Nya's hands, "What if I was like, also your girlfriend, with a sprinkling of boyfriend here and there?"
Nya's turn to falter.
"I sorta, kinda sorta maybe, started taking estrogen when I was gone." Jay laughs nervously and their voice cracks. "It started as a joke, the whole, being a gal-"
Nya grips their shoulders and yanks him close, "Jay you fucking dumbass, you already know I like women."
"I know that, but it's different!"
"I'm gonna love you no matter what," Nya assured.
Jay doesn't fucking let go of him as the words register and he swears tears are forming in his eyes. Gathering fast as a bullet train. Her fingers dig into the back of Nya's shirt desperately.
"Nya!" Cole practically shouts as he waltzes out.
Jay jumps away from their girlfriend, arms raised in surrender. He eases up when he sees it's just Cole.
Cole pauses in his steps, eyes tracing up and down Jay, "Nice to see you back too, Jay! I was starting to think you'd left us."
Nya clips him on the back of the head, "Don't be a dick, Cole."
"Gee, can't a guy tease his bud?" Cole questioned.
"Too soon," Jay answered with.
"Man, you're gonna have to tell us everything about your little journey," Cole said, trying to brush over a lot of things all at once.
Very subtle things.
All about Jay.
How they looked, talked, and even stood have all changed in little ways.
Cole's gonna ask later.
Nya watches with rapt attent as Jay slowly adheres a small patch to their skin. Pressed close to where his kidney rests, she glances up to find Nya staring.
"I don't, I don't need to do estrogen," Jay offered hesitantly, "My plan was to do it for three years, see if I have good assets and then drop it if I wanna."
"Sounds great," Nya offered with a nod of his head, "We should totally go dress shopping tomorrow."
"I just got back, hold your horses. I haven't said hi to Zane, hows he doing?"
"Its doing great!" Nya said and again, the reaction time is small, but visible.
"Good for Zane, and Pixal, and Lloyd, and Kai." They could keep going but she doesn't. Instead he slides into a pair of pajama pants and a tank top and lays down, "You know what I really missed?"
Nya lays down parallel to her, hands at his side, "What'd ya miss most?"
"Sleeping in bed with you," Jay answered with.
Kind of sappy.
Kind of sentimental.
Kind of dumb.
But also, so very, very true.
Her girlfriend rolls over till he can wrap an arm around them and ruffle up Jay's hair.
"I missed that too."
Jay doesn't wake up much in the dead of night but when they wake up to sunlight streaming in through the window, she has this hunch that Nya didn't release them once in the night. Nya nuzzles his face against the crook of their neck, half mane of hair a mess and in his mouth. Still, Nya looked cuter than before even being more muscle dense.
He was still Jay's girlfriend after all.